Vending apparatus



INITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY M. KNIGHT, OF CAMDEN, NEXV JERSEY.

VENDING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part'of Letters Patent No. 426,537, dated April 29, 1890. Application filed July 3, 1889. fierial No. 316,811. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY M. KNIGHT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Camden, in the county of Camden and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vending Apparatus; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification. v Y

My invention relates to selling devices, or what are commonly called vending apparatus, into the slot of which a penny or other coin is deposited and causes the automatic delivery of articles one at a time-as, for instance, a strip of chewing-gum, cigars, cigarettes, or other articles of uniform value.

This invention has for its object the provision of a simple and effective device for this purpose, which shall embody an automatic delivery of the articles, and an automatic e11- gagement of the delivery-slide, when it is pushed back, with mechanism of a very simple, compact, and effectual form for tripping, the latch being pivoted and engaging the slide at one end lying in the path of the descending coin at the other.

The following detailed description will more .fully explain the nature and purpose of my said invention and the manner in which I carry the same into practice.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention. 1

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the box. Fig. 2 is a section of same, taken on a central vertical line in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is afront elevation of the coin-spout and trip-latch. Fig. 4. is a plan view of the table, showing the spring.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures where they occur.

, Ais the box in which all the mechanism is mounted, the articles held, and the coins retained. It has a compartment to for holding the articles to be delivered on dropping a coin in the chute, a compartment (0', into which the coins drop after the latch is tripped,

and a compartment a in which the trip mechanism is held. The compartment a lies immediately back of compartment a, and the delivery-slide B works under the partition between them. The delivery-slide is provided with a receptacle Z), in which the chewinggum or other article is held. The receptacle 1) coincides in size with the articles to be delivered, a series of such articles being held in compartment a above the receptacle Z). 011 the inner end of slide B is provided a rib Z), which the latch engages. A spring C is secured in the box in a suitable manner to 0p erate upon the slide to cause it-normallly to throw the slide forward. The spring 0 is preferably a textile-covered rubber, and is secured by knots or other means to the walls of thebox and extended back of the slide B to exert its force to throw said slide forward when the latch releases the slide.

D is the coin chute or channel, which is straight and is set in a vertical position proj ecting above the box at the top and stopping at the bot-tom just above the rear end of the pivoted latch.

E is a bracket, in which the pivot f of the trip-latch F finds bearings, and c is a tongue extending forward from said bracket, 011 the point of which the latch rests, and is thereby prevented from falling any lower at its forward end. This tongue, being formed of sheet metal, can be bent as desired to stop the latch at any height when the slide B is thrown forward. The latch F has the pivot f in it at asuitable point to divide it into two arms F and F, of which the short arm F is flat and extends back nearly to the wall of the box, so that the descending coin when falling upon the extreme end thereof overbalanees the long arm F and disengages it from the rib b. The long arm F is provided at its forward end with an upward turn or curve f and strengtheniug-corrugationf and an engaging lip f for clutching the rib on the slide, and also with an indentation f just back of the lip, which gives a securer hold to the latch upon the slide.

When the slide B is pushed back, the latch will drop down and the lip f" will engagethe rib b until a coin is dropped through the chute B upon the short 'arm F of the latch, which will raise long arm F and disengage the lip, when the spring will throw the slide, with its gum or other article, out in front of the boX. By pushing the slide back the rib rides under the upturned end f and when far enough back is engaged by the lip f when the device is ready for dropping another com. 7

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s

The combination, with the recessed slide having a rib on its rear side and a spring for normally throwing the slide forward, of the bracket E, secured upon the inside of the back of the box, said bracket having side I 5 jaws and a tongue 0, projecting forward, all formed of one piece of metal, a latch pivoted in the side jaws of the bracket and having its forward or engaging end supported upon the tongue, and a coin-chute arranged above the rear end of the latch, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HARRY M. KNIGHT. Witnesses:

THos. D. MowLDs, FREDK. J LAMBERT. 

